Thursday, June 10, 2010

Union Carbide

(The Bhopal disaster or Bhopal Gas Tragedy was an industrial catastrophe that occurred in 1984 at the Union Carbide India Limited (UCIL) pesticide plant in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India. At that time, UCIL was the Indian subsidiary of the U.S. company Union Carbide Corporation (UCC), which is now a subsidiary of Dow Chemical Company)

June 9, 2010 13:48 ISTPrasanna Zore

A day after a very disappointing verdict in India's worst industrial disaster, rediff.com's Prasanna Zore visits ground zero at the Union Carbide plant in Bhopal.

A huge ominous looking, dilapidated hospital greets you at the entrance of what was the dreaded Union Carbide of India Limited plant in Bhopal. As you surreptitiously venture inside the sprawling 93-acre plot, red metal in various state of erosion coldly overlooks a neighbourhood, whose people still shiver when they recall that fateful night of December 2, 1984.

Nearly 41 tonnes of methyl isocyanate (MIC) and Phosgene gas, both noxious and lethal chemicals that are used as intermediates in the manufacture of fertilizer Sevin, leaked out after midnight on December 2 from an underground storage tank that had been installed at the Indian subsidiary of Union Carbide Corporation in Bhopal.

The leak lead to the largest industrial catastrophe in the world's history that killed some 15,274 (official figure as per a judicial review) and affected some 6 lakh --of Bhopal's total population of 9 lakh in 1984 of the town's populace who suffer from chronic joint pains, itchy skin, muscle weakness, poor eyesight, lung cancer to this day.

It was not just the MIC that wreaked havoc. Another poisonous chemical agent Phosgene also leaked into the air and spread fast as the winter winds blew across the plant and spread the gas

The facts need to be reiterated as Bhopal's Chief Judicial Magistrate Mohan Tiwari, announced his verdict convicting eight Indians--notable amongst them Keshub Mahindra, currently chairman of Mahindra & Mahindra, who was the erstwhile chairman of Union Carbide India Limited.

Ironically, all 8 of them were released on a bail of Rs 25,000 despite the fact that these accused were also served two years' imprisonment by the lower court under Section 304 A of the Indian Penal Code instead of Section 304 (Part II). Interestingly, Justice A M Ahmadi in his September 13, 1996 judgment had diluted the charge from Section 304 (Part II) to Section 304 (A).

After this judgment there was no way the lower court would have announced punishment of more than two years, rue a number of activists who have been in the forefront of the victims' fight for justice from an "unresponsive and uncaring state administration and a judiciary that connives with the state government, union government and multinational companies," says Abdul Jabbar of Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Udyog Sanghatan (organisation of women affected by the Bhopal gas tragedy).

While UCC has shirked off its responsibility by saying that they made no decisions as far as day to day maintenance and operations of their Indian subsidiary were concerned, people who worked in the factory said that all decision to cut costs, design specifications and daily production estimates came from the US-based headquarters.

Take the case of this (pictured) tower. One of the floor engineers who now works as a tourist guide (he is one among several who take European tourists on a guided tour of the premise with permission from the district collector) said that had this tower been manned by 5 people instead of one on that fateful day, several thousand precious lives could have been saved.But why was only one man operating on this tower that maintains release of toxic gases in air? "Because the company had downsized its operations to cut costs," says he while refusing to come on record for this story. "The absence of four people from this tower was also part of UCC's cost-cutting exercise."

There is, though, one more startling fact, which if the company had been responsible enough, that could have helped save thousands.According to the tourist guide, when the gas leaked out from the underground storage tank, it formed a blanket almost three feet above the ground. Whatever was below this height remained unaffected. Most of the trees got charred because of the gases were charred above three feet, he says to stress his point.

"The workers were trained on how to act in case of leakage of Phosgene and MIC. The environment safety engineers had advised them to sleep on the ground in such a situation with their faces covered with moist handkerchiefs to avoid getting affected by both these gases.Those workers who did so survived while those who panicked and ran towards the gate to save their lives died."

Victims' groups have mobilised themselves under the leadership of Satinath Sarangi, a 48-year-old survivor. In 1997, he met Raj Sharma, a lawyer who had just graduated out of the American University Law School.

While in college, Sharma took a course offered by a visiting professor, Upendra Bakshi, that informed him about the legal history of the Bhopal accident.

Sharma was hooked. He decided to leave for Bhopal following his graduation.

"The scene in Bhopal was very bad. There was a situation where one person was dying every day. The long-term consequences were beginning to set in, most strongly in women, such as severe menstrual irregularities, birth defects in the children of survivors and such," says Sharma.

Two years later, Sharma filed a lawsuit in the US against Union Carbide and Anderson, and has been litigating since.

Even as he is impressed by the will of the Bhopal victims to pursue justice, he expresses shock at the behaviour of Indian government officials.

"The Indian government refused to put in even a single line or letter for us. They did not want to be embarrassed in front of Union Carbide, embarrassed to be supporting their own people. I had heard of the government's collusion with the company before I left for Bhopal. I said to myself, 'Don't be naive, this cannot be true,' until I saw it happening with my own eyes," says Sharma.Photographs: Paresh Gandhi in New York

The lack of Indian political will has a lot to do with economics, claim those involved with the movement. "The Government of India is bending over backwards to appease Union Carbide, now Dow Chemicals. They are very afraid of creating a negative environment for international corporations in line to invest in India," believes Rajagopal.

India's Central Bureau of Investigation, the prosecuting agency, recently filed papers to reduce the charges against Anderson, much to the outrage of activists fighting to bring him to India for trial. But the Bhopal high court judge rejected the CBI papers, reasoning that Anderson had not applied to any Indian court to dilute the charges against him.

In a 1989 settlement, Union Carbide paid the Indian government $470 million as damages. The amount had scaled down from the $3 billion originally sought. But some victims are still waiting to receive their share of the money.

When a Channel Four reporter from London landed at Anderson's home last week, he found Lillian Anderson on the front lawn.

'It is not Union Carbide's fault,' she told the reporter. 'Union Carbide has been good to them. You just do not understand. We did all we can.'

When the reporter urged her to answer more questions, she excused herself to prepare for a dinner party that she complained was 'not even catered.'

"This is essentially saying 'we are more concerned about our dinner party than discussing the lives of hundreds and thousands of people that continue to suffer in the aftermath of the disaster. Leave us alone because we have to go and live our nice life,'" Harrell said.

Journalist Shakti Bhatt located former Union Carbide Chairman Warren Anderson's luxury home in New York, declared unknown by the American and Indian governments, in India Abroad, the newspaper owned by Rediff.com, back in September 2002.

The lack of Indian political will has a lot to do with economics, claim those involved with the movement. "The Government of India is bending over backwards to appease Union Carbide, now Dow Chemicals. They are very afraid of creating a negative environment for international corporations in line to invest in India," believes Rajagopal.India's Central Bureau of Investigation, the prosecuting agency, recently filed papers to reduce the charges against Anderson, much to the outrage of activists fighting to bring him to India for trial. But the Bhopal high court judge rejected the CBI papers, reasoning that Anderson had not applied to any Indian court to dilute the charges against him.

In a 1989 settlement, Union Carbide paid the Indian government $470 million as damages. The amount had scaled down from the $3 billion originally sought. But some victims are still waiting to receive their share of the money.

When a Channel Four reporter from London landed at Anderson's home last week, he found Lillian Anderson on the front lawn.

'It is not Union Carbide's fault,' she told the reporter. 'Union Carbide has been good to them. You just do not understand. We did all we can.'

When the reporter urged her to answer more questions, she excused herself to prepare for a dinner party that she complained was 'not even catered.'

"This is essentially saying 'we are more concerned about our dinner party than discussing the lives of hundreds and thousands of people that continue to suffer in the aftermath of the disaster. Leave us alone because we have to go and live our nice life,'" Harrell said.

As a Bhopal court convicted eight people on Monday, June 7, for the worst-ever industrial disaster, we reproduce the global scoop:

Warren Anderson's home in Bridgehampton, New York, militates against the notion of a hiding place.

Located on a street that runs off the main road, the gates of the house are open. As you enter, the neatly trimmed garden flowers, alternatively red and white, vie for attention with the sparkling vintage Buick Roadmaster parked outside the door.

If you stroll around the house, you come upon a large freshly cut lawn with two full-size beach chairs. The curtains in the bedroom are drawn. A king size bed with cream sheets and satin blue pillows, flanked by an ornate headboard, has just been tidied.

Anderson and his wife Lillian live in this luxury home in the Hamptons, the weekend resort for the rich and famous. And, occasionally, the infamous.

Anderson has lived here since he was charged with 'culpable homicide' for the disaster at the Union Carbide factory in Bhopal in December 1984 that consumed the lives of over 20,000 people. If Anderson -- then Union Carbide CEO -- is ever extradited to India, he could face charges leading to 10 to 20 years in a dirty, overcrowded, rat-infested Indian prison.

Bridgehampton is an intensely private neighbourhood. An outsider driving around its roads is distinctly discernible and stared at. A five-minute walk from Anderson's home on Ocean Road takes you to the water. A man is perched in his red sports jeep, reading a golf magazine.

"Do you know Warren Anderson?" I ask him.

He looks up, a trifle annoyed at being disturbed. "Yeah. I mean we are not best friends but I know who he is," he says.

I begin to walk away. He stops me and says, "You know, yesterday there was this woman outside his home with a poster saying 'Go back to India'."

"Do you know why?" I ask.

"Nope. That is his business,' says the gray-haired man, and goes back to his magazine.

Since he was declared absconder in 2002, Anderson was not part of the case in which 8 were convicted on Monday--

Diane Wilson, a shrimp farmer from Texas who now spends most of her time holding protests against the former CEO of Union Carbide, now a part of Michigan-based Dow Chemicals.

When a rally of more than 1,000 protestors stood outside his home last week, he stepped outside to speak to them.

"Yell at them is more like it," says Arvind Rajagopal, professor of media at New York University who is involved with the Bhopal awareness campaign in this country. "He said, 'Get your facts right. They bulldozed the clinic we built'. That is bullshit. No clinic was bulldozed. In fact, the only clinic they built is still there in Bhopal."

Anderson is clearly upset he has been found.

It was detection work not by an investigative journalist but by a campaigner for GreenPeace. Casey Harrell left his office in Washington, DC, early one morning to drive to New York. He knew it was going to be an exciting day.

After weeks of research, he had located the address of Anderson's $900,000 home, declared unknown by the American and Indian governments. Harrell wanted to meet Anderson and serve him the arrest warrant issued 10 years ago by a Bhopal district court.

August 28, Harrell sat inside his car with a colleague. A day before, photographers from London's Mirror newspaper had shot a picture of a visibly disconcerted Anderson.

Anderson's Cadillac pulled into his house. Harrell waited. Anderson was rinsing the gravel off his car when Harrell, with a mini camera on him, made his move. Guessing the nature of Harrell's visit, Anderson said, 'Oh, Mr Anderson is not around right now. What do you want with him?'

Harrell, while recognising Anderson, replied he had some questions to ask the owner. Right after, an elderly woman driving her car stopped outside Anderson's home. She had noticed the signs of aggravation on Anderson's face.

'Hey, Anderson! Is anything the matter?' she called out.

"It was then that Anderson got really agitated," recalls Harrell.

"He told the lady not to mention his name and ran inside the house. I started to run after him. Fortunately, as he was about to close the door, I stuck in my foot and threw the warrant inside."

Anderson's neighbor approached Harrell. 'You are mistaken. He is Warren McLaughlin, not Warren Anderson.' Seeing that her listener was not convinced, she raised her voice in exasperation and repeated, 'Don't you understand? He is not the former Union Carbide executive.'

For Harrell and those actively involved in helping Bhopal's victims receive justice, this was a symbolic act. In the 18 years that have passed since the tragedy, little has been done for the families that continue to suffer the long-term consequences of the toxic gas leakage that led, among other things, to severe contamination of the groundwater. Ninety per cent of the victims are said to have received less than $500.